Studies of Air Showers above 10¹8 eV with the CHICOS Array

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CHICOS (California HIgh school Cosmic ray ObServatory) is presently an array of more than 140 detectors distributed over a large area (400 km²) of southern California, and will consist of 180 detectors at 90 locations in the near future. These sites, located at area schools, are equipped with computerized data acquisition and automatic nightly data transfer (via internet) to our Caltech lab. The installed sites make up the largest currently operating ground array for ultra-high energy cosmic ray research in the northern hemisphere. The goal of CHICOS is to provide data related to the flux and distribution of arrival directions for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We have performed detailed Monte-Carlo calculations to determine the density and arrival-time distribution of charged particles in extensive air showers for the CHICOS array. Calculations were performed for proton primaries with energies 10¹8 to 10²1 eV and zenith angles out to 50 degrees. We have developed novel parameterizations for both distributions as functions of distance from the shower axis, primary energy, and incident zenith angle. These parameterizations are used in aperture calculations and reconstruction of shower data, enabling preliminary analysis of ultra-high energy shower data from CHICOS.